Born in Almería in 1003, Al-Udri journeyed to Mecca as a young boy. During his ten year stay, he studied with Abu Dhar al-Harawi. Upon his return to al-Andalus he was apprenticed to Abu Umar Ibn 'Abd al-Barr and later Ibn Hazm.[3] He lived in Zaragoza and was the author of a geographical-historical compendium about the Taifa of Zaragoza in al-Andalus, in which he gives the annals of the region. He is also the author of the family histories of the Banu Qasi, Banu Sabrit, and Banu Tujibi, which are now lost, but were cited by al-Maqqari. He is best known for the Tarsi al-akhbar(Nizam al-murdjan),[4] a history of the civil wars and rebellions on the Upper March and the civil war in the Taifa of Almería.